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Henson Alternative
Henson Alternative is a production and distribution brand of The Jim Henson Company. The productions under the Henson Alternative banner feature more mature themes and content than those traditionally associated with Henson Company. Despite the brand of "adult" content, The Henson Company still continues their long-time tradition of producing Family entertainment and Sci-Fi and Fantasy features. ::- Nicole Goldman, Henson Company Vice President of Marketing and Publicity "The Jim Henson Company Podcast", Episode 17. October 26, 2007 Origins and the puppets of Puppet Up! - Uncensored.]] Under the leadership and direction of Brian Henson, the Jim Henson Company began developing adult-comedy content in 2005. After the sale of The Muppets to the Walt Disney Company, the company assessed new and potential areas for future development and focus. Brain Henson stated in a 2006 interview that "we lost our position as funny, popular entertainment in the prime-time arena, so I'm trying to get back there. To do that and be innovative, we have to really establish a new voice."Wallenstein, Andrew. "Jokes That Kermit Wouldn't Dare Tell", The New York Times. November 12, 2006 However, Henson Alternative was not the first time the Henson Company sought an adult audience. Many of Jim Henson's early projects were very risqué and adult in nature - such as Time Piece, The Cube, The Land of Gorch, and Sex and Violence. As Brian Henson reflected "because of Sesame Street people thought of Henson as a children's performer. It was sort of odd for him because he was until then an adult performer."Wallenstein, Andrew. "Jokes That Kermit Wouldn't Dare Tell", The New York Times. November 12, 2006 When developing this new direction, Henson stated that "are starting to develop more comedy that's a little rough around the edges, kind of like Muppets in the early days but with a modern sensibility." "Interview with Brian Henson", TV.com. May 1, 2006. ::- Brian Henson"Puppet Up! an interview with Brian Henson". March 22, 2007 Henson was not purposefully forcing the content and focus to go "off-color" or become risqué for the sake "shock comedy" or simply polarizing or reaching to capture a specific demographic, but rather explained the shift of focus as doing what they, as performers, found entertaining. Brian Henson commented on the development saying, "we didn't set out to do risqué adult-exclusive content. What we did set out to do is to forget all the rules of the 8 p.m. sensibility, what puppets do that aren't in preschool, and instead let's just do what we as puppeteers think is the funniest thing we can do in the moment."Wallenstein, Andrew. "Jokes That Kermit Wouldn't Dare Tell", The New York Times. November 12, 2006 ::- Brian Henson "Puppet Up! Uncensored - Interview with Brian Henson", TBS.com. 2007 Productions ]] The first projects realized under the Henson Alternative banner was ''Puppet Up! - Uncensored, a live improv show which led to a television special on TBS and a web series on TBS.com. The company later developed and piloted a late night talk show entitled Late Night Buffet for TBS. Like most late-night talk shows, "Late Night Buffet" was not geared towards children and the comedic tone was more adult-oriented; as such, all members of the live studio audience were required to be over 18. Currently, the company is producing the adult-oriented comedy series Tinseltown for the Logo Network. Tinseltown stars two homosexual puppets – Bobby Vegan and Samson Knight - in a faux-reality series. The show began development in 2006 and made its television debuted on November 2, 2007. In 2007 Henson partnered with Warner Bros to create three "alternative comedy" webseries. These projects including a monkey detective comedy entitled The Simian Undercover Detective Squad; a puppet reality-show spoof; and a full series adaptation of the company's Puppet Up! improv stage show. Another web project, Sam Plenty, is also in development. The show is a comedy created by Puppet Up! performer Paul Rugg. Branding thumb|300px|The Henson Alternative splash page on Henson.com The Henson Alternative brand was created as a way to label the productions and let audiences know that the content might not be appropriate for the youngest audience members. The Henson Alternative logo, a variation of the old Henson Associate's "ha!" logo, first appeared in early 2007 on the playbills, programs and promotional material of the Puppet Up! – Uncensored stage show. The logo later appeared on Henson.com's coverage of the Henson Alternative productions and in materials related to the release of Tinseltown. Sources External links *Henson Alternative at Henson.com Category:Henson Alternative